Brother
by WaitingWishing
Summary: Ed doesn't approve of his new baby brother, but a little moment changes his mind.


Hello, hello! Yup, another FullMetal ficcy, but this time it's about Ed and Al (I love those two!). And it's not in _that_ kinda way either. It's just a short and fluffy story I came up with the other day that takes place when Ed is two-ish and Al is about one-ish. Ok, so enough babble, onto the story!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything, so please don't sue me!

**Brother**

Edward's eyes shot open, everything around him dark and covered in shadows, a sign that it was not near dawn at all. He sat up in his bed, rubbing away the sleepiness from his eyes as the sound of a baby crying echoed into his room. He groaned, unhappy about the interruption of his peaceful slumber, and got out of bed. He wandered down the hall, following the sound of his mother's voice and the faint light that shone from a room.

It was another night where he was awoken to the sounds of that baby crying, his new baby brother, which had been occasionally happening for almost a year now. Sometimes if he were lucky, he'd sleep through the whole thing, but most of the time, he was awoken from his sleep to the sound of the baby bawling. He wondered how so small a thing could cause so much noise.

He stood near the frame of the door; clutching his prized stuffed animal that resembled a kitten-Mr. Whiskers he called it- in his hands. He watched as his mother held the infant in her arms, singing a soothing lullaby to calm the baby down. He listened to the music of his mother's voice, almost falling asleep to the sweet sound until he recognized the words to be _his_ lullaby. His eyes jolted back open. Why was she singing his lullaby to that baby?

"Mommy?" Ed's small voice called. His mother turned, a faint look of surprise on her face.

"Edward? Honey, what are you doing up?" she asked warmly, rocking the little one in her arms.

"_It_ woke me up," he replied accusingly, referring to the baby. He walked over to his mother, looking up to her with sleepy eyes. "How much longer are we going to keep it? When are you going to return it to the place it came from?"

His mother laughed softly, smiling at Ed's innocence in the question. "We aren't going to send him back. He's here to stay, Edward, he's your little brother after all."

Ed pouted, disappointed at the idea of having to keep the baby. He wondered why people referred to the baby as "a bundle of joy" when it really was a bundle of trouble. It would wake him up in the middle of the night, cry for no apparent reason, and cause a smell that made him nauseous. Ed thought that with this new baby brother around, his mother seemed to have forgotten his existence. She would always be tending to it when she promised to play with him, and sing to it his lullabies.

No, he didn't want a brother, he was content by himself. He thought there was no need to have an addition to the family, it was fine just the way it was; him, his mother, and his father, although he had been gone for a while now. Now, it would be him, his mother, his father, and _it_.

He watched as his mother put the baby back into its crib, relieved that it had stopped crying... for now. His mother continued to look down at the little one, a warm smile on her lips. Ed frowned and walked over to her, wondering what was just so interesting about it. He stood on a chair close to the crib so that he could get a good view, and find out why it was fascinating to look at.

He stared into the crib to find big blue eyes staring back at him. A little patch of blonde hair stuck up from his head, its skin pale yet soft-looking. This was the first time for him to see it up close, and even so he saw nothing special about this new brother of his. It couldn't do anything out of the extraordinary, neither could it talk. The only words Ed had ever heard it say were "gaa" and "biba," which he thought were not very impressive at the least since they weren't real words, but the adults around him thought it was the best thing in the world. All he ever saw it do was cry, drink, sleep, and poop. That's it. He didn't see anything exciting about any of that.

"Broober!" it squealed, looking up at Ed. Ed rolled his eyes, while his mother chuckled softly.

"Does _it _know how to talk?" he asked inquisitively.

"No, not yet," his mother replied. "And don't call the baby 'it' all the time, Edward. He's called Alphonse, and has a name just like you."

Ed sighed in response, and continued to watch its attempts at saying a word, all which turned out to sound like gibber-gabber to his ears. He wondered how much longer it would take for his new brother to learn how to talk, or if it would be able to talk at all.

"Oh no... Alphonse's bottle is empty," Ed heard his mother say to herself, then to him," Edward, I'm going to go get some more milk. Be a good boy, and watch him, alright?"

"Fine," he grumbled. She gave him a small hug, whispering "That's my big boy," before leaving the room. A triumphant smile came upon his face, and he looked down at the baby with a wide smirk.

"Did you hear that? Mommy called _me_ a 'big boy,'" he haughtily said.

"Guugabla?" it responded back.

"No, big boy. Say it with me, big-" he stopped mid-sentence, realizing it was a hopeless cause to teach it how to talk. He watched it try to pronounce more words, and grimaced at the drool trailing down from its mouth. He looked around for something to wipe the excessive spit with, but sought nothing. He clutched Mr. Whiskers in his hands, and looked back at the saliva pouring out of its mouth. Reluctantly, he used his precious stuffed animal to wipe to drool, making a face at his slobbered toy. The baby let out a happy and cheerful chuckle.

"Look here, _you_," he pointed at the infant, "I didn't do that because you're my brother; I did that because that was disgusting. Just because I'm related to you, that doesn't mean I have to like you. You're only here because mommy can't return you."

The sound of the baby's laugh resonated in the room; a toothless smile appeared on its chubby face. Ed frowned, ignoring the fact that it looked somewhat adorable.

"What're you laughing at?" he asked. "You think that all of this is funny? Well, I'm going to-"

"Nii-san!"

Ed stopped, mouth hanging open in shock. "Wh-what did you say?" he asked, hoping he had heard right.

"Nii-san! Nii-san!" the baby cried happily. "Brother! Brother!"

"Brother? You just said brother!" Ed exclaimed, ready to get his mother to let her hear the new and actual word the infant pronounced.

"Ewdward!" the little one squealed in delight. "Brother Ewdward!"

Ed couldn't help but smile as he corrected his brother," No, silly. It's Ed-ward."

"Ed...ward..." the baby recited slowly, another smile brightening up on his face at this accomplishment. "Brother Edward!"

"There you go!" Ed chuckled whole-heartedly, surprised yet totally proud that his brother's first words were "Brother Edward." He had expected for the first word to be something like "Mama" or "Dada," so this had to mean a lot. Ed grinned from ear to ear, making sure he would remember this moment in time.

And as he watched his little brother light up with more laughter, he forgot all the things he had said about not wanting to have a younger sibling, those feelings were replaced by a sense of anticipation and excitement. He now had someone to share his toys with, someone to play games with, someone to laugh with. He couldn't wait for his brother to get older, and be able to talk, walk, run... He made a mental promise to protect his little brother no matter how dangerous or how costly it will be to make sure he stays safe. He was now an older brother and had a responsibility to take.

He suddenly felt terrible for the things he had said earlier, and wished he could make it up to him, but what could he do? He looked down at Mr. Whiskers, and gave it a quick hug before putting it in the crib next to his baby brother.

"Here, I'm giving you Mr. Whiskers," Ed said theatrically. "Think of it as a little sorry present about not wanting you around. I didn't mean those things I said."

"Hugaba?" the infant gave him a quizzical look, but accepted Mr. Whiskers. He took the toy, clutching it closely to him as he rested his little head on it. "Brother Edward..." He whispered in a small voice that only Ed could hear, closing his eyes until dozing off to sleep.

"_Alphonse_..." Ed murmured, feeling tired as his eyelids became too heavy to keep open. "Looks like I learned a new word too, huh little brother?" He yawned, taking a last look at Al before his eyes shut and his mind drifted into a peaceful slumber.

**FINIS.**

So... didya like it? Tell me what you think by leaving a review! Thanks for reading!


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